Year 501 : The Conquest Continues: Amazon.ca: Noam Chomsky: Books

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4.0 out of 5 stars Myth-shattering - ESPECIALLY on economics., Oct 27 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Year 501 : The Conquest Continues (Paperback)

Don't believe the critics for a second without reading for yourself. As alway, Chomsky states what is unthinkable in standard circles: that the free market is first of all a lie and second of all a disaster for world economies. A lie, because it is hypocritically championed by the US and Europe, who do not practice a 'free market' at all, except when it serves their interests; and a disaster, based on unending research on the real consequences of opening up Third world economies to foreign investment - leading to a near inevitable decline in wages, rise in unemployment, end of free speech, control by foreign interests, and brutal, usually murderous suppression of the vast majority of the population by the "friends of democracy".

Yes, this sounds like a paranoid left-wing conspiracy theory, especially given that the unending stream of facts presented by Chomsky are almost entirely omitted from mainstream discourse, even in such 'left-leaning' forums as the NY Times and the New Republic. Combine that with Chomsky's biting irony, and it is easy to go up in arms against him as a fringe figure with a "breathtaking ignorance of economics" - or at least the orthodox version of economic theory that so selectively pays attention to the most glaring of facts. It is easy to dismiss as "politics more commonly found on bumper stickers". But these reactions are beyond unfair for such comprehensively researched work - and they tell more about the readers and about the pervasiveness of common myths than about Chomsky's positions, which are always irreproachably humane, no matter how critics may try to claim the contrary, utterly without foundation.

Reading Chomsky will either send up walls of defensiveness in you, or else make you see the world in a different way - more accurately. There are no arguments presented in Year 501 that are not virtually common knowledge to the majority of the planet - everywhere but in the privileged sectors of the First world, where people have a gift for selective blindness. But this is essential reading all the same. I give 4 stars instead of 5 because, like other books by Chomsky, Year 501 could be more accessible than it is. Try one of the interview books for an easier read.

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5.0 out of 5 stars a must read for anyone who has a hard time understanding why, Jun 21 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Year 501 : The Conquest Continues (Paperback)

america wants to be the "Global Policeman". What are we trying to police? Many of his conclusions are really no-brainers for anyone who understands that capitalism and democracy are not the same thing, and that when the two collide (and they have collided often in poor countries where resouces are sucked out by transnational corperations) the U$A always suports the side that pays- evan at the cost of really unspeakable crime against humanity. The devil is in the details and chomskys books are like windows thruogh which you'll stare that devil in the face. Many people cann't bare to look and many others don't want you to.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Once Again Chomsky Is On Target!, April 28 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Year 501 : The Conquest Continues (Paperback)

Professor Chomsky provides, as always, a stunning analysis of how power overrides stated principle. Chomsky's method is simple: use the same standards of evidence in understanding U.S. policy as one would in a discussion of the policies of any other power. I can understand Mr.Kamm's reluctance to discover any merit in this work as someone either totally ignorant of Chomsky's work or blinded by his own ideological fantasies of "free-market fairness."

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes the "Respectable" Men Squirm
Chomsky's Year 501 is another engrossing work from this erudite and learned treasure and scholar. A good place to start is the concluding chapter as it presents an incredible... Read more

Published on Nov 13 2003 by Drew Hunkins

5.0 out of 5 stars Devastating indictment of Western capitalism
This is a book by Chomsky that is probably even more scholarly than usual. At least in the way it is written. Read more

Published on Oct 15 2002 by Chris